Protesters locked up by police

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2007 at 10:17 AM

NEW DELHI -- About 27,000 landless people gathered in New Delhi, hoping to march to Parliament with a single demand -- to be given land. But police locked them up yesterday, chaining the gates to the vast Ramlila fairgrounds and barricading the demonstrators inside.

NEW DELHI -- About 27,000 landless people gathered in New Delhi, hoping to march to Parliament with a single demand -- to be given land. But police locked them up yesterday, chaining the gates to the vast Ramlila fairgrounds and barricading the demonstrators inside.

Yesterday had been planned as the culmination of a monthlong, 185-mile march north from the city of Gwalior to the national capital with this message: The masses have been largely untouched by India's economic boom.

"Day by day, the Sensex goes up, but the common people get nothing from this," said Anil Gupta, a march organizer, referring to the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index, which closed at a record high yesterday.

"People here are asking only for the basics. There is no greed. They don't want clothes or electricity, just land so they can feed themselves," he said.

After police barricaded the protesters inside the dusty fairgrounds, they settled in, saying they would stay as long as it takes. There, they were getting a daily meal from organizers, whereas at home, they have nothing.

The march united India's traditionally landless -- the "untouchables" and tribals at the bottom of the country's social ladder -- and the newly landless, forced from their fields by economic projects.

India is trying to attract foreign investment to spur its economy and help develop its largely backward infrastructure. In part, it has chosen to do this by setting up economic zones where companies get tax breaks to open businesses and factories.

But critics say farmers often are forced from their land or cheated of its value when it is acquired for the projects.

Organizers demand that a national body be created to look into the land issue and amend vague property laws and endemic corruption.

In an apparent answer to the protests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office announced late yesterday that a National Land Reforms Council would be established with Singh as its chairman. Officials in his office were not available to discuss details.